Author: Peter Anderson

Longer, wider, lighter, faster. The 991 911 has been with us for seven years but certainly made its mark. The 991 launched in 2011, with the usual “how can you tell it’s new” jokes to go with it. Porschephiles don’t care about that stuff and neither do I. They’re not going to change the look and rightly so. The 991 grew again, both in overall length and in its wheelbase, again to fit bigger humans and more stuff. The wheelbase grew a whopping 10cm making it look longer and lower,…

Six generations in and the 911 range got bigger and deeper. With variants galore to suit all tastes, from a sweet entry-level Carrera 2 to fire-breathing GT2 RS. The 997 arrived in a blaze. In 2004, Porsche was riding pretty high, backed by its ever-closer relationship with the Volkswagen Group. The aggro over the move away from water-cooling had long since been silenced and Porsche’s designer produced a cleaner, prettier car than the 996. A new approach to both ends of the car, while maintaining the instantly recognisable profile, created…

Porsche’s fifth 911, the 996, re-wrote big chunks of the rule book. Longer, wider and with fried egg headlights, it also had – gasp – a watercooled flat-six. Did the 996…dilute the brand? (I am not sorry) Looking for the other parts? Click here! The 996 was a bit of a mixed bag. The company was on a bit of an efficiency drive, both in a financial and engineering sense. The former forced the same nose as the entry-level Boxster on to the 911 while the latter meant the end…

The third 911 is known by the fans as the 964. At the time, Porsche said that 85% of the car was new despite having the same shell as the G Series with integrated plastic bumpers. Looking for the other parts? Click here! The 964 arrived under a cloud. In 1989 Porsche was in a fair bit of economic trouble (foreshadowing the near-flameout two decades later) and the 964 had to perform on the dealer floor. Yeah, it did pretty well. Nearly 100,000 over the five years it was on…

Porsche’s second-generation of the decade-old 911 was really just a big facelift. Known as the G model, its growing popularity in the US and the big changes in the global market meant big changes for Porsche’s 2+2. Looking for the other parts? Click here The G-Series was half-rationalisation – you could only get the 2.7-litre flat-six from the start – and half regulatory. The US had brought in rules that fundamentally ruined the looks of a lot of cars, most famously the MGB. Most American cars were already too ugly to…

We’re counting down the 911s as launch day for the eighth-generation moves closer. Here we start with the original 911, released fifty-five years ago. Porsche intended the 356 successor to be called 901 but pesky old Peugeot got in the way. After some no doubt tense discussions – things are rather rosier between the two countries today – Porsche settled on 911. A hit in the US, the car quickly took hold. Porsche introduced a drop top and in response to US concerns about that style of car’s safety record,…